What to use with senna for detoxification and bowel cleansing

First of all, let me say it up front. It is not recommended for healthy people to use senna leaves for so-called "detoxification and bowel cleansing." Only when clinical needs are short-term relief of severe constipation or routine pre-operative bowel cleansing, and when used according to the doctor's advice, it will be used with warm honey and qi-regulating tangerine peel to buffer the irritation of senna leaves and reduce side effects.

A while ago, I accompanied a friend to the emergency room for an infusion, and I met a young girl born in 2000. In order to take a photo shoot to "cleanse the intestines and lose weight", I searched for a prescription and mixed senna leaves with roses and lotus leaves every day. I drank it for 4 days in a row. I walked unsteadily and my hands were numb. It was found that the blood potassium was critically low. The doctor said that even two days later could induce arrhythmia. She also said aggrievedly that it was said on the Internet that combining it with herbal tea can neutralize the side effects, but she never expected it to be so serious.

Why are people so obsessed with senna for bowel cleansing? To put it bluntly, I have been fooled by the concept of "fecal detoxification". Senna is a typical anthraquinone stimulant laxative. Its principle of action is to directly stimulate the nerves in the intestinal wall, forcing the intestines to speed up peristalsis and defecation. What is excreted is not the "poison" accumulated for more than ten years, but the normal intestinal contents plus the stimulated and shed intestinal epithelial cells. If you drink it and have a bowel movement, it is essentially forced diarrhea, and it has nothing to do with "health care".

If it is really necessary to follow the doctor's advice and must be used for a short period of time. For example, my grandma had stubborn constipation and had not had a bowel movement for three or four days. The doctor prescribed 3g of senna leaf at a time, boiled with a small piece of shredded tangerine peel in water. The tangerine peel regulates qi and can relieve intestinal colic caused by senna. If you are afraid that it will be too bitter or cold, you can also add some warm honey and drink it to make your stomach feel better. It usually takes about 2 hours to take effect. You can stop drinking it for 2 days at most. The doctor will not let you drink more.

Nowadays, there are many combination plans on the Internet. It is said that combining cassia seeds, chrysanthemums, and winter melon peels can clear away fat and detoxify. This statement is particularly controversial in the traditional Chinese medicine circle. Some doctors think that if you use it once in a while and control the dosage, there will not be much problem. But more specialist doctors understand that It is true that as long as a healthy person has no indication of constipation, long-term use of senna leaves, no matter what the combination, may induce colon melanosis. The intestinal mucosa will turn dark brown like a leopard pattern, which will aggravate constipation and even have the potential risk of cancer.

If you really want to "reduce" the burden on the intestines, eating more vegetables with gluten, drinking two cups of warm salt water, and walking for half an hour after meals are more reliable than drinking senna leaves. Drinking laxatives as health tea is really not a mistake.